RSS questions Rahul Gandhis remark, demands apology

India's Congress party vice president Rahul Gandhi gestures during an address at a farmers' rally at Ramlila ground in New Delhi April 19, 2015. To match Insight INDIA-CONGRESS/ REUTERS/Anindito Mukherjee/File Photo

RSS on Friday questioned Rahul Gandhi over his remark of standing by every word he said about the outfit, asking whether the Congress leader was talking about his affidavit or the “lie” in his public speeches, and demanded an apology from him. “Stand by every word I said about RSS: R Gandhi.

Which words, in affidavit filed in court or the ‘lie’ uttered in public speech?,” head of RSS’ communications department Manmohan Vaidya said on Twitter.

The official facebook page of RSS said “Rahul Gandhi and Congress Party should stop lying and apologise.”

In a post titled “Satyamev Jayate – The Truth Triumphs”, it cited an apology tendered by ‘The Statesman’ in 2003 after a legal battle over an editorial in 2000. The RSS said, “Do Rahul Gandhi and the Congress have respect for truth to give such an apology in writing and guarantee that he or his party will never utter the ‘lie’ again in future.”

The RSS had sued Rahul for defamation and the Congress Vice President had approached the apex court seeking quashing of the case.

Appearing for Rahul Gandhi in the Supreme Court, senior advocate and Congress leader Kapil Sibal had cited an affidavit filed before the High Court saying Rahul had only accused certain people of RSS and not the organisation as those who assassinated Mahatma Gandhi.

Dismissing suggestions that he had made a U-turn on RSS role in killing Mahatma Gandhi, Rahul had yesterday said he stood by “every single word” he said. “I will never stop fighting the hateful & divisive agenda of the RSS. I stand by every single word I said,” he tweeted.

He buttressed his stand by citing paragraphs from his affidavit filed in the Bombay High Court while challenging the summons issued to him as an accused for his alleged defamatory statement in an election rally in Maharashtra.

An RSS leader thereafter filed a complaint against him in a local court seeking to make Rahul as an accused.
PTI